Babeu: Gunfight with cartels imminent

Pinal County focusing on smugglers, sheriff says

by Lindsey Collom - Feb. 2, 2011 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu is anticipating an armed conflict between his deputies and cartel members within the next 30 to 60 days.

Babeu made that prediction last week as he addressed an Ahwatukee Foothills Republican women's club, and reiterated it Tuesday on the heels of a speech by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asserting that border communities are safer than ever.

A gunbattle is all but certain, Babeu told The Arizona Republic, because his deputies and members of a regional SWAT team are now routinely working to stop smugglers from pushing cargo through Pinal.

"We have had enough," Babeu said. "That's why we're going into these areas and sending a very clear message to the cartels: We see you and we're not going to let you through."

An outspoken critic of U.S. immigration policy, Babeu said cartels have stepped up their tactics in Pinal County by reinforcing smuggling routes with armed guards to ward off potential bandits, in addition to stationing more lookouts on high points of the landscape. Some bandits are impersonating police, Babeu said, and he worries that smugglers won't know the difference.

"When we announce ourselves in Spanish, 'This is the sheriff, drop your weapons, this is an arrest,' I pray every time they will surrender," Babeu said. "In the event that any of them decide to point their weapons at our deputies . . . my directive is there had better be rounds going downrange to neutralize that threat."

Babeu for months has faulted Napolitano, accusing her of downplaying border-related violence and of being "divorced from reality."

Speaking at the University of Texas at El Paso, Napolitano said numbers show 30 percent less violent crime in border counties since the Southwest Border Initiative began in March 2009. Border apprehensions have decreased by 36 percent, she said, with increased manpower and technology as a deterrent.

"It is inaccurate to state, as too many have, that the border is overrun with violence and out of control," Napolitano said.

"This statement, often made only to score political points, is just plain wrong."

But Babeu says apprehensions, drug seizures and immigration-related pursuits are on the rise in his county, about 70 miles north of the border.